My posts keep getting longer and longer. Back in the day, it was a few paragraphs tops. So I'm publishing just the books in this post so that it's easier to skip over when I'm going through the archives, reading old posts.
Eee hee hee.
Plot: A giant wave swallows up a bunch of islands from an archipelago, and kills almost everybody who lives on them. Mau, a native guy, survives and befriends Daphne, an English girl who was shipwrecked on his island. Eventually survivors from other islands join them, and they form a small community. Human nature, loss, religion and so on are common themes.
I realize I make books sound unexciting at best. I'm sorry about that. There's a much better review here, anyway. Basically, I really like it because: It gives you a lot to think about, it's mostly serious with just the right amount of funny, the plot is good, the narration is good, it seems pretty well-researched, and the characters are absolutely marvelous (not like the Airborn ones, as I'd mentioned before. Ugh).
I picked up this book because it was lying discarded on the kitchen table after my mom read it. I nearly finished it but didn't want to read the last chapters, because (spoiler!) it was pretty obvious by then that Daphne was going to sail off ad probably never return to the island. Nooooo! Mau and Daphne would have made such a great couple. Sigh. After bracing myself and finishing the last chapter, I was ready to toss the book down and throw a tantrum, but the epilogue stopped me. Now that was a good epilogue! (Pay attention, Scott Westerfeld. The Peeps epilogue was the only bad part of your book, IMO).
On a related note: There were so many passages of Nation that I liked and should have bookmarked to think about later. I didn't, because it was too good to put down in favor of a Post-It hunt, but I really should keep a little notebook with me to copy down phrases. I'll try to, from now on (and will probably fail. Shush!).
Book 28: Kitchen Chinese, by Ann Mah.
We got this book from my sister, who picked it up at a discount shop and passed it on to my mom when she visited her. Thanks, Izzy!
I didn't expect much from this book, to be honest, but it was better than I expected. 3.5 out of 5, I'd say. Nice bit of light reading, and adequately entertaining.
Pros:
1. Some interesting characters (the main girl, her sister, her friend, her boss).
2. Takes place in China, which was interesting.
3. The workplace and job-related scenes were good. Nice dynamic going on with the coworkers.
4. Features food. I like food!
Cons:
1. The romantic conflict was annoying: it is OBVIOUS from the start that she'll dump the macho-guy (whom she repeatedly says she doesn't like anyway) and end up with the charming, successful upstairs neighbor. It felt forced, could have done without it.
2. Some characters were under-developed (mainly the romantic interest).
3. She uses "e.g." instead of "i.e." twice (yes, I'm lame and care about this). But that's an editing thing.
4. Sometimes the descriptions get a bit... er, boring. Going on about the lovely pillars which draw the eye up to the nice thatched roof and whatnot.
5. The timeline was a bit weird. She doesn't really say how much time passes between scenes, so I was surprised when it was mentioned that nearly a year had passed.
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